Then, filled with indignant rage at the murderous attack upon him, and suddenly comprehending the desperate nature of the situation, he sprang at his antagonist, thrusting the remnants of the chair in his face and, following hard and fast upon him, pushed him backward and still backward till, tripping once more, he fell supine among the pots and pans. Seizing the axe that had dropped from his enemy's hand, Cameron hurled it far beyond the wood pile and then stood waiting, a cold and deadly rage possessing him.
"Come on, you dog!" he said through his shut teeth. "You have been needing this for some time and now you'll get it."
"What is it, Joe?"
Cameron quickly turned and saw behind him Mandy, her face blanched, her eyes wide, and her voice faint with terror.
"Oh, nothing much," said Cameron, struggling to recover himself.
"Perkins stumbled over the tub among the pots and pans there. He made a great row, too," he continued with a laugh, striving to get his voice under control.
"What is it, Joe?" repeated Mandy, approaching Perkins. But Perkins stood leaning against the corner of the porch in a kind of dazed silence.
"You've been fighting," she said, turning upon Cameron.
"Not at all," said Cameron lightly, "but, if you must know, Perkins went stumbling among these pots and pans and finally sat down in the tub; and naturally he is mad."
"Is that true, Joe?" said Mandy, moving slowly nearer him.
"Oh, shut up, Mandy! I'm all wet, that's all, and I'm going to bed."
His voice was faint as though he were speaking with an effort.
"You go into the house," he said to the girl. "I've got something to say to Cameron here."
"You are quarreling."
"Oh, give us a rest, Mandy, and get out! No, there's no quarreling, but I want to have a talk with Cameron about something. Go on, now!"
For a few moments she hesitated, looking from one to the other.
"It's all right, Mandy," said Cameron quietly. "You needn't be afraid, there won't be any trouble."
For a moment more she stood, then quietly turned away.
"Wait!" said Perkins to Cameron, and followed Mandy into the house.
For some minutes Cameron stood waiting.
"Now, you murderous brute!" he said, when Perkins reappeared.
"Come down to the barn where no girl can interfere." He turned towards the barn.
"Hold on!" said Perkins, breathing heavily. "Not to-night. I want to say something. She's waiting to see me go upstairs."
Cameron came back.
"What have you got to say, you cur?" he asked in a voice filled with a cold and deliberate contempt.
"Don't you call no names," replied Perkins. "It ain't no use."
His voice was low, trembling, but gravely earnest. "Say, I might have killed you to-night." His breath was still coming in quick short gasps.
"You tried your best, you dog!" said Cameron.
"Don't you call no names," panted Perkins again. "I might--a--killed yeh. I'm mighty--glad--I didn't." He spoke like a man who had had a great deliverance. "But don't yeh," here his teeth snapped like a dog's, "don't yeh ever go foolin' with that girl again. Don't yeh--ever--do it. I seen yeh huggin' her in there and I tell yeh--I tell yeh--," his breath began to come in sobs, "I won't stand it--I'll kill yeh, sure as God's in heaven "Are you mad?" said Cameron, scanning narrowly the white distorted face.
"Mad? Yes, I guess so--I dunno--but don't yeh do it, that's all.
She's mine! Mine! D'yeh hear?"
He stepped forward and thrust his snarling face into Cameron's.
"No, I ain't goin' to touch yeh," as Cameron stepped back into a posture of defense, "not to-night. Some day, perhaps." Here again his teeth came together with a snap. "But I'm not going to have you or any other man cutting in on me with that girl. D'yeh hear me?" and he lifted a trembling forefinger and thrust it almost into Cameron's face.
Cameron stood regarding him in silent and contemptuous amazement.
Neither of them saw a dark form standing back out of the moonlight, inside the door. At last Cameron spoke.
"Now what the deuce does all this mean?" he said slowly. "Is this girl by any unhappy chance engaged to you?"
"Yes, she is--or was as good as, till you came; but you listen to me. As God hears me up there"--he raised his shaking hand and pointed up to the moonlit sky, and then went on, chewing on his words like a dog on a bone--"I'll cut the heart out of your body if I catch you monkeying round that girl again. You've got to get out of here! Everything was all right till you came sneaking in.
You've got to get out! You've got to get out! D'yeh hear me?
You've got to get out!"
His voice was rising, mad rage was seizing him again, his fingers were opening and shutting like a man in a death agony.
Cameron glanced towards the door.
"I'm done," said Perkins, noting the glance. "That's my last word.
You'd better quit this job." His voice again took on an imploring tone. "You'd better go or something will sure happen to you.
Nobody will miss you much, except perhaps Mandy." His ghastly face twisted into a snarling smile, his eyes appeared glazed in the moonlight, his voice was husky--the man seemed truly insane.
Cameron stood observing him quietly when he had ceased speaking.
"Are you finished? Then hear me. First, in regard to this girl, she doesn't want me and I don't want her, but make up your mind, I promise you to do all I can to prevent her falling into the hands of a brute like you. Then as to leaving this place, I shall go just when it suits me, no sooner."
"All right," said Perkins, his voice low and trembling. "All right, mind I warned you! Mind I warned you! But if you go foolin' with that girl, I'll kill yeh, so help me God."
These words he uttered with the solemnity of an oath and turned towards the porch. A dark figure flitted across the kitchen and disappeared into the house. Cameron walked slowly towards the barn.
"He's mad. He's clean daffy, but none the less dangerous," he said to himself. "What a rotten mess all this is!" he added in disgust.
"By Jove! The whole thing isn't worth while."
But as he thought of Mandy's frightened face and imploring eyes and the brutal murderous face of the man who claimed her as his own, he said between his teeth:
"No, I won't quit now. I'll see this thing through, whatever it costs," and with this resolve he set himself to the business of getting to sleep; in which, after many attempts, he was at length successful.
